Continually Crediting Our Community

Fall is here, and I want to take a minute to acknowledge how hard our team has been working, especially in the last month or so. 

We’ve had exciting growth in capacity for our team responsible for loan origination and supporting new borrowers as they enroll in one of our lending programs. Our regional organizers, Sophie Hoiseth and Ben Lien, have joined our community lending coordinator, Kaelah Mundley, in completing enrollment training for Exodus Lending, thanks to the incredible work done by our loan portfolio manager, Troye Dylla, in onboarding and supporting them through their first few enrollment appointments. 🎉

Alongside this internal capacity building, our whole team has been incredibly active out in their respective communities. While this may read like an info dump, I think it really highlights how many organizations there are in Minnesota, offering such important resources and building a truly robust community of people who care. 

In Northern MN, Ben:

• Joined Lakes and Pines Community Action Council at their annual picnic.
• Participated in the Four Cornerstones of Financial Wellness Train-the-Trainer, alongside Kaelah.
• Met up with Sophie in St. Cloud where they attended the MinnCAP Conference and connected with folks in the area.

In Southern MN, Sophie:

• Participated in several Mankato Network meetings, including with the Advocacy and Community Together, the Blue Earth County Homelessness Response, and the Multicultural Network at the DEI office of Minnesota State University, Mankato.
• Completed onboarding for our second-to-last Resiliency Loan Partner of 2025, the Tri-County Action Program in Waite Park, bringing us to 24 total organizational partners.

In the Twin Cities Metro Area:

• Our policy and partnerships director, Meghan Olsen Biebighauser, has been connecting with folks from the City of St Paul Office of Financial Empowerment, Dakota Woodlands, Foster Advocates, and the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition.
• We partnered with the Center for Responsible Lending to carry out three online focus groups on the impact of the 36% interest rate cap in Minnesota (read more below). 
• Our organizing team also hosted an in-person listening session in collaboration with Neighbors Inc. in Dakota County, on Earned Wage Access Apps (EWAs).
• Ben attended the Disabled American Veterans MN Fall Conference in Plymouth, and our executive director, Anne Leland, joined him at the MN CDFI Coalition Conference in Coon Rapids.
• Even our loan servicing coordinator, Claire Chamberlin, and our finance and operations director, Kaitlyn Szabo, got out to table with Sophie at Drop Deadlift Gorgeous, directed and founded by our own development director, Max Poessnecker.

We are so privileged to live in a state where we have so many great partnerships available and resources at our fingertips that we can share with one another. Our fundraiser theme, Credit to Our Community, is so much more to us than just a tagline for an event; it is something that we live into every single day.

And speaking of our fundraiser – the photo gallery from Connor Mattison is here! He did such a lovely job capturing our fundraiser and all of the joy that was shared together last month. Check them out below.